


An Ace Up the Sleeve

by LivesInTheStars



Category: Six of Crows - Leigh Bardugo
Genre: Gratuitous making out, M/M, post-inej rescue because i like to be vague and not make predictions, some crow club friendship because apparently i can never end this type of thing without it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-14
Updated: 2016-01-14
Packaged: 2018-05-13 22:03:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5718727
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LivesInTheStars/pseuds/LivesInTheStars
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <em>"Try and keep him from gambling." Kaz says, expression half amused and half exasperated. </em>
</p><p>  <em>Wylan, indignant, makes a horrible squeaking noise before he can hold it back. "Me?! Why?" </em></p><p>  <em>Kaz shrugs, smirking. "Maybe he'll actually listen to you."</em></p><p> </p><p>Wylan has unconventional methods.</p>
            </blockquote>





	An Ace Up the Sleeve

**Author's Note:**

> There's vaguely a plot here in which our favourite criminals are living temporarily in a house together in the midst of one of Kaz's plans. Mostly, it's just sin.

"Wylan, you're with Jesper." 

Wylan nods stoically, fighting back a smile. He's worked with Jesper one on one before; they're a good team. In fact, he's quite happy with this arrangement until Kaz grabs his arm as the others file out.

"Try and keep him from gambling." Kaz says, expression half amused and half exasperated. 

Wylan, indignant, makes a horrible squeaking noise before he can hold it back. "Me?! Why?" 

Kaz shrugs, smirking. "Maybe he'll actually listen to you."

Wylan doesn't think so, but he doesn't argue with Kaz.  
\---

"Just one round, merchling. It won't take long." 

"Jesper!" Wylan grips his arm, trying to hold the taller boy back. "Kaz said no gambling."

" _One round_ , Wylan. It'll be fine." 

Wylan tries not to be jarred by the use of his name. Jesper prefers taunting nicknames, only using his real name in moments of heavy sincerity. 

This doesn't feel like one of those. 

Jesper shakes him off, stalking towards the entrance. 

"Jesper-"

The sharpshooter turns, rolling his eyes. "You're not going to get in trouble, runt. Relax."

Wylan wrinkles his nose. 'Runt' is new. He doesn't like it. 

Jesper starts moving again. Wylan trots after him. The threat of Kaz's disappointment and his whining has had no effect. He needs a new tactic. 

_"You're cuter when you're smart."_

Right. Smart. He needs to think of something. 

_"No. Not just girls."_

Wylan grabs Jesper's arm again, pulling the older boy toward him. The sharpshooter looks exasperated, mouth already opening to harass Wylan into going inside with him. Wylan grabs Jesper's shirt with both hands and pulls his mouth down to his. 

Jesper stiffens in surprise. Wylan doesn't slow, pressing his lips hard against Jesper's until the other boy softens, hands coming up to clutch the back of Wylan's neck, fingers tangling in the hair at the nape of his neck. 

Wylan pulls back. Jesper's eyes flicker open to meet his. His gaze is unfocused. He looks at Wylan's lips and licks his own. 

"Wow, merchling," he says at last, a little breathlessly. "I didn't know you had it in you." He's grinning. 

"Wow, _Wylan_." Wylan corrects. He doesn't miss the way that Jesper's eyes flicker back to his lips again. It sends a nervous thrill through him. But at the same time, Wylan can't help himself from thinking _Good, he's distracted._

"Wow, Wylan." Jesper concedes. His eyes haven't left Wylan's mouth. There's something wonderstruck about his tone. 

_He wants more_ , Wylan thinks, and his stomach sweeps with anxiety and excitement and want. He grins, because this is what he wanted. Kaz never said how to keep Jesper from gambling, he just said to try. And if unconventional methods are what it takes to prove that he can handle himself, then that's what Wylan has to do. 

"Come on," he says, and this time Jesper follows when Wylan tugs his sleeve. 

Grinning, Wylan pulls him into an alley, amazed at Jesper's compliance. The Zemeni boy is still staring at his lips. 

Then the sharpshooter's eyes flick upward to meet his, startlingly grey. 

Oh no.

Jesper pushes Wylan up against the side of a building, grinning broadly, madly. Then he presses his lips to Wylan's. 

Jesper kisses with all the intensity of a house on fire. Jesper kisses like his money depends on it. Jesper kisses like he's only alive with lips on his. His mouth is rough against Wylan's, in constant motion, his hands cupping Wylan's jaw. Jesper crowds up against him, nudging a leg between Wylan's and Wylan groans. And then he gets angry. _He_ started this, it was his idea, and he should be in charge. 

Wylan tangles his hands in the front of Jesper's shirt and pulls, spinning them around so that Jesper's back is pressed against the building. Jesper laughs the entire time, head thrown back. And then he looks at Wylan again, grey eyes stormy, and pulls him in. 

Wylan bites him.

Jesper jerks backward immediately. "Ouch, merchling." he hisses. "What was-"

Wylan kisses him again, pressing an _I'm in charge_ against Jesper's lips. Jesper -surprisingly- complies, hands coming to rest on his hips, thumbs digging into Wylan's hip bones. Wylan kisses him roughly, in all the ways he knows the other boy didn't expect of him. When Jesper groans into his mouth, it sounds like victory. Wylan wants to set off canons and pop champagne bottles. 

His hands are still fisted in Jesper's shirt. He feels like he should be doing something else with them. He can't figure out what. 

Wylan pulls his lips from Jesper's, panting. He can feel Jesper's eyes on him, but he doesn't look. The other boy's chest moves against his as he catches his breath. Wylan keeps his gaze steadily fixed on Jesper's collarbones. And then his neck. And then he presses his lips there. 

Jesper gasps when Wylan's mouth comes in contact with his neck, but he curls a hand up to hold the back of Wylan's head, keeping him there. Wylan smiles against his skin. 

He presses kisses against the underside of Jesper's jaw, drags his lips down his neck, sucks hard at the spot where Jesper's neck meets his shoulder. He wants to leave a mark. He imagines, for a moment, Jesper walking down the stairs to the common room with marks from Wylan's lips on his neck. It's a satisfying thought. 

"Wylan," Jesper groans, head tilting back. Heat flashes through Wylan's stomach. His heart flutters at the sound of his name, at the way Jesper rolls the syllables and whines the end. He wants Jesper to say it like that again. And again. And again. 

"Wylan," Jesper repeats. This time it's slower. Raspier. It fills him up with want. 

He pulls his lips from Jesper's neck and presses a kiss there before meeting the other boy's gaze. Jesper's grey eyes hold all the intensity of a storm. They're mystifying, startling. They're staring deep deep deep inside him and it should make him want to squirm, but it doesn't --not really. He feels trapped in Jesper's gaze, but there's something steadying and comforting about it.

"Wylan," Jesper says again. Softer. It doesn't sound like his name anymore; it sounds like a confession. 

Wylan's heart beats unsteadily in his chest. 

"Wylan," he says again, leaning closer. "Wylan." It sounds like _look at me_. It sounds like _I'm yours_. 

And then Jesper's lips are on his neck. Oh. _Oh._ He's so so much better at this than Wylan must have been. It feels like something that should be listed under "special skills" on Jesper's resume. 

Jesper's mouth moves so much slower against his skin than his lips. It's tantalizing. Wylan shivers as Jesper presses slow, lingering kisses down his neck. He feels the other boy's tongue against his skin. He shivers again. Jesper nips at his neck, then his earlobe, and it makes Wylan a trembling, whimpering mess. Of course Jesper would be good at this. Of course. Of course. 

Jesper kisses the point where his jaw connects to his neck, so softly, so reverently. He didn't expect him to be this slow, this careful. He didn't expect the pleasant way Jesper's teeth graze his skin. 

Wylan whimpers, louder this time, shuddering. Jesper freezes for a moment, and Wylan feels him grinning against his skin. He knows the other boy felt something else, pressed together the way they are. 

And then Jesper lunges in with a new fury, all slowness and softness gone. He sucks so hard at Wylan's neck, his shoulder, his collarbone, that he knows the evidence will be there tomorrow: purple marks against his pale skin. He bites his shoulder, hard, viciously, and then runs his tongue along the spot. Wylan's heart is beating so hard he's sure Jesper can feel it in every place their bodies touch. He moans, head tilting back. He feels dizzy and lost and found. 

Jesper shivers against him. "You sound," he murmurs, pressing a soft kiss to Wylan's shoulder. " _so good_."

Wylan nearly loses it right there. 

"Stop," he whispers. He's so quiet he's sure Jesper didn't hear, but the Zemeni boy steps backward immediately. 

"What?" he asks, voice gravelly with emotion. Wylan wasn't expecting that. "What's wrong? Do you...do you want to stop?" 

They should. They really should stop. They're on a mission. Stop Jesper from gambling was only stage one. They have important things to do and--

"No." Wylan says. His voice sounds serious and sure. He means it. "No," he repeats. "Just give me a second." He untangles his hands from Jesper --he doesn't remember moving them; how did they end up clenched in the back of his shirt?-- and places a hand against the other boy's chest to steady himself. Jesper's heart pounds furiously against Wylan's palm. He didn't expect that either; Jesper seemed so much calmer, so in control. 

When he looks up, Jesper is staring at him painfully. He looks like he's struggling to stay still with Wylan's hand against his chest. He looks vulnerable. It tugs at Wylan so hard he finds himself grinning. 

"Okay," he says, and then he lunges forward. Jesper's back is pressed hard against the brick building again, and he smiles against Wylan's lips. Wylan kisses him hard again, until he feels Jesper tense up, arms curling tight around him. Wylan moves his mouth to Jesper's neck with a new determination. When he sucks at his skin, he sucks long and slow until Jesper whimpers. It feels good to make him a mess like this. It feels dangerous. 

He pulls back, and when he looks at Jesper, the other boy's face is pulled into a frown. 

"What?" Wylan asks, laughing, delirious. 

"I _whimpered_ ," he complains. "It's embarrassing." 

"I liked it." Wylan tells him, quietly, honestly, with a ruthless smile. He kisses him again, pushing up against him. And then he pulls back. 

"We should go," Wylan tells him. He doesn't really want to, but he knows that of the two of them, he's the one that tends more towards practical. "We have places to be, things to steal." He jokes. He sounds a little like Kaz. 

Jesper makes a noise of complaint, but leans forward off of the wall. "Fine," he grunts. When he follows Wylan out of the alley, he takes his hand, twining their fingers together. It makes Wylan stop in his tracks for a moment, heart stuttering. 

"Problem?" Jesper asks, stopping beside him. He's grinning. What an asshole. 

"No," Wylan spits. He's blushing. He can't believe this. He can make out with a guy in an alley, but holding hands makes him blush. Of course. Of course. 

Jesper shakes his head, shit-eating grin still in place, and starts walking again. Wylan notes that the taller boy is walking slower than usual, so he can keep up with his long legs. Their hands are still intertwined. 

They pass someone on the street. Wylan is still blushing madly, and he can feel the heat all the way up to his ears. He's sure his father would have something damning to say about his sexuality. He finds he doesn't care. 

Jesper whistles as they walk, long legs striding along, hand still clutching his. Wylan can't stop staring.  
\----

"You got it?" Kaz asks when they enter, without looking up. 

Wylan drops the bag in front of him, right beside the plate of cakes and cookies Nina is steadily devouring. She tries to feed one to Matthias, but he wrinkles his nose at it. Nina laughs. 

Kaz glances up at last. "And?" 

"No gambling!" Wylan tells him cheerfully. He sounds like a giddy child. He doesn't care about that, either. 

Kaz raises an eyebrow. Nina gapes at him in shock. Jesper makes an indignant noise. Inej grins. Matthias actually looks impressed. 

Wylan is flushed and beaming. He did it. He did the impossible. He feels like a hero. 

Jesper is whining beside him, about how Kaz has betrayed him by giving Wylan a secret mission, how this is completely uncalled for, how he is completely in control of his gambling and could stop at any time. 

"I think," Kaz interrupts, almost smiling. "that you should hang out with Wylan more often. He's clearly a good influence." 

Nina laughs, loud and boisterous. Inej snorts, and then giggles along with her. Wylan finds himself laughing, too. 

"You're all terrible influences," Jesper rebukes. "What Wylan should really be doing is getting you all tutors on how to be decent human beings." 

That just makes them all laugh harder. Even Kaz. Even Matthias. It's the worst comeback Jesper's ever had and his ears are turning red. 

Jesper storms off upstairs, still grumbling. He's back within the hour, grinning with a deck of cards clutched in hand. He insists that Wylan has deprived him of a basic human right and it needs to be rectified immediately. They laugh, but Kaz takes the deck to deal. Inej insists that they don't let him play because he always wins and probably cheats. 

Wylan loses every round, but it doesn't keep the smile from his face. He likes this, he realizes, sitting around with them playing cards. He loves this, this feeling of belonging and peace. 

(The sidelong looks that Jesper sends his way don't hurt, either.)  
\---

Wylan rubs one eye, stumbling down the stairs. For whatever reason, their routine has become meeting at the table for Kaz's briefing and breakfast. 

He manages to sit at the table without making an embarrassment of himself. Inej and Nina are already there: Inej sitting on the corner of the table, sharpening one of her knives, and Nina staring mournfully at an empty plate. 

Nina glances up when he sits down. She looks like she was about to say something, but her gaze catches on his neck and stays there. 

Wylan frowns. He hasn't gotten dressed yet and the shirt he wears to sleep is sliding off one shoulder. Maybe she's just staring at his outfit: Nina has a more critical eyes for fashion than he does. Still, something about her gaze makes him want to squirm. 

"Wylan," she says slowly, still staring at him. "what happened to your neck?"

"My..." he pauses, fingers moving to his throat. Inej looks up sharply, and when her eyes find his neck her mouth drops open. 

Brow furrowing, he stands, moving towards the mirror behind Nina. Oh. _Oh._ Of course. 

His skin is pale, elegant-boned, and covered in purpling marks. There's a line of hickeys from his jaw to his collarbones, and a dark mark on his exposed shoulder. He's coated in evidence of Jesper's mouth, in varying degrees of red and purple. The whole thing is damning and obvious. A blush is spreading quickly across his face. 

"Um," he says. He can't decide if it would be worse to sit back down or to just keep staring at the hickeys. They're kind of beautiful, he decides, an odd sort of painting on his skin rather than canvas. And then he decides that that's incredibly stupid and he should just sit down. 

Wylan drops back into his original seat, head in his hands. "Shit," he mutters. His ears are burning. 

Inej and Nina burst out laughing. They kind of sound like hyenas. 

"Stop," he grumbles, pulling his head up at last. Inej shuts her mouth at once, but her laughter spills out anyway. Nina snorts, clapping a hand over her mouth, and cackles harder. 

"Stop," Wylan whines. 

"Stop what?" Jesper asks, sailing down the stairs. He's grinning. Wylan's gaze flicks immediately to his neck. All the marks he worked so hard to make are barely visible against Jesper's dark skin. Of course. Of course Jesper's skin is hardly discoloured while Wylan looks like a freaking bruise. Of course. Jesper probably knew this would happen. What an asshole. 

"What's so entertaining?" Jesper's grinning, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. 

Nina tries to explain, but her eyes catch on Wylan and she just starts laughing again. Inej looks like she's having trouble breathing. 

Jesper's eyes flick between them and his face splits into a savage grin. "Ah," he says, pushing off the wall and moving toward them. "Admiring my handiwork." His fingertips drift across the marks on Wylan's shoulder as he passes. Wylan shivers, flushing again.

That, at least, shuts Inej and Nina up. They stare between the two of them in silence, mouths agape. 

Wylan doesn't know what to feel right now. He's tired and annoyed and embarrassed (and maybe annoyed at being embarrassed). He might be angry, too. And turned on. Shit, he's a mess right now. 

The silence is stifling. Jesper's still grinning like crazy, looking between them all like shock and chaos are his favourite things. He looks like he did when Kaz told them all about Wylan's identity. 

"It's not fair," Wylan grumbles at last. 

"What's not fair, my dear Wylan?" Jesper asks. _My dear Wylan._ What an asshole. 'Merchling' is starting to sound more and more like a blessing. 

Wylan grins at him, sharklike as he can. Time to show some spine. "I bruise easily; it's too easy to leave marks on me. But all that work on you, and you're hardly marked at all." He stares very pointedly at the faint purple tinge to Jesper's skin before meeting his eyes. 

Nina and Inej choke out a laugh at that. When Wylan glances at them, they're beaming in full support. 

"Well," Jesper says, catching his eyes again. "you're just going to have to work a little harder, next time." His smile is practically a sneer. Only Jesper could flirt and annoy at the same time. 

Wylan's stomach drops all the same. He's blushing again. _"Next time."_

Inej and Nina laugh all the way into the briefing. Kaz pointedly ignores the marks on Wylan's neck. Matthias looks at them in confusion until Nina leans over to whisper in his ear. Jesper doesn't stop staring. 

He stares all the way through the briefing: at Wylan's neck, at his hands, at the bruises and hickeys on his shoulder, at his eyes. Whenever he catches Wylan's gaze, he grins. Once, he mouths _you busy tonight?_ Wylan flushes and keeps his gaze steadily fixed on the table for the rest of the briefing. 

What an asshole.


End file.
